A Nepalese student short-changed thousands of dollars by her Melbourne employer was told to stay silent or have her working visa cancelled.

The 27-year-old international student told the Fair Work Ombudsman she was paid a flat rate of $12 an hour between September 2013 and March 2015 despite being entitled to a much higher rate, in addition to weekends and public holiday penalties.

She said her employer at the takeaway shop Health Express – run by Mr Herscu, the sole director of Rapid City Pty Ltd – at DFO South Wharf told her she would be paid less because she was “not an Aussie”.

“When I came for the interview, he said that I will give you the job, but as you are not an Aussie, I will be paying you a lesser amount,” she told Fair Work investigators.

Her Australian colleagues were being paid more than $20 for the same work, she said.

She is one of two international students to lodge a complaint against Health Express.

Another woman, aged 31, from India, said she was short-changed more than $27,000 between June 2010 and March 2015.

Mr Herscu has since agreed to pay back $50,000 to the two women.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said employers “simply cannot undercut the minimum lawful entitlement of their employees based on what they think the job may be worth”.

Labor, Liberals and Greens fail to properly declare donations made during election year

Date – January 9, 2016 – 9:45PM – Bevan Shields

Documents released overnight by the Australian Electoral Commission show Labor, the Liberals and Greens failed to declare the money during the 2013/14 financial year.

Failing to disclose donations can result in significant fines for the party and donor.

The documents reveal the Liberal Party’s NSW division has only recently corrected details of a $40,000 contribution from corporate giant STW Communications.

STW Communication’s annual report shows it owns or part-owns two major political lobbying firms: the Labor-aligned Hawker Britton, and the right-leaning Barton Deakin.

Barton Deakin staff and directors include David Alexander, a former adviser to Peter Costello, Grahame Morris, a former chief of staff to John Howard, former NSW Liberal leader Peter Collins, John Griffin, a former chief of staff to Jeff Kennett and Matt Hingerty, a former chief of staff to Joe Hockey.

A Liberals spokeswoman said the $40,000 donation “came from companies under the STW Communications” group but refused to say which ones.

The final report of the Royal Commission Into Trade Union Corruption found the donation had been made to a West Australian Labor federal election candidate to secure industrial peace in the maritime industry. It was never disclosed by Labor, or the company, and was only disclosed to the AEC on Thursday.

The Australian Greens also failed to declare a $15,000 donation from a regular supporter, the postcard advertising company Avant Card. Founder Pat Mackle describes herself as an avid fan of the Greens and has personally donated tens of thousands of dollars to the party in the past. The donation does not appear in any previous declarations for 2013/14.

Australia’s First Nations Political Party only lodged its disclosure statement late last year. The AEC published the form overnight. It contains a $50,000 donation from its founder, Maurice Ryan, the grandson of famed Aboriginal activist Vincent Lingiari​. The due date for lodging the return was October 20, 2014.

The Victorian Liberals also updated their disclosures after providing the incorrect name and address for a development firm that donated $50,000.

In a statement, the NSW Liberal Party spokeswoman said: “The donations were declared as part of the NSW Liberal Party’s overall return. The donations came from companies under the STW Communications Group. The party amended its return to include them under STW Communications.”

Greens co-convenor Giz Watson said the ‘oversight’ came to light during an AEC audit. The Greens alerted the AEC to the problem, he added.

“We have implemented measures to ensure that these errors are not repeated in future annual returns.”

Comment has been sought from Labor.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten came under fire last year after it emerged he failed to declare a political donation of about $40,000 from a labour hire company he received in the lead up to the 2007 election campaign.

Mr Shorten only corrected the record with the AEC days before giving evidence at the trade union royal commission.

The profits of aged care homes surged 40 per cent in the past year as operators cut hours of nursing care while claiming higher payments from the federal government for servicing more of the most frail patients.

The earnings boom in the sector comes after the government introduced widespread reforms of aged care in 2014, including deregulating fees and lifting restrictions on the accommodation bond that nursing homes can levy on residents.

It also coincides with a spike in false claims by aged care home providers for government subsidies, which rise based on the level of need of the patient.

According to the latest annual survey of aged care homes by Bentleys Chartered Accountants, the average profit before interest and tax increasing from $4497 per resident per annum in 2014 to $6278 in 2015.

The profits for 2015 equate to $17.20 per resident per day.

At the same time, the average bond – known as a refundable accommodation deposit – also rose by 40 per cent – from $154,116 to $217,839.

The deposit – which must be paid back after the resident dies – is effectively an interest-free loan to the aged care home operator.

Heath Shonhan, a business advisory partner at Bentleys attributed the profit surge to three factors – a one-off increase of 2.4 per cent in government subsidies, free market pricing of accommodation deposits and a rise in the average frailty of patients.

“[Patients] are a lot frailer and their care needs are higher so they are trending towards the higher end of the funding spectrum,” he said.

Mr Shonhan said the rising infirmity of nursing home residents reflected a trend toward the elderly staying in their homes for longer as they access better home care services.

However, the federal government this month revealed it was becoming increasingly concerned that aged care operators were rorting the $10.6 billion Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI).

The basic rate of the ACFI subsidy is $36.11 per day for low-care residents, rising to $78.62 for medium- and $108.92 for high-care residents.

One in eight claims audited by the government last financial year were incorrect, leading to an unexpected $150 million blowout in the aged care budget. False claims this financial year are tracking at one in seven.

In response, the federal government announced new fines of up to $10,800 for providers who repeatedly make false claims.

Yet while nursing homes report they are looking after more needy residents, the time spent caring for them declined by 7 per cent over the past year.

In 2015, hours by care staff (nurses, care assistants and therapists) fell from 42.71 hours per fortnight to 39.80 hours per fortnight.

At 2.8 hours a day, the average is well below the minimum of 4.5 hours per day of nursing care mandated in the US, said Lynda Saltarelli from the Aged Care Crisis advocacy group.

“Australia has no recommended levels for staffing,” she said. “Over half of all nursing homes in Australia have nursing levels so low that most residents suffer harm.”

“There’s a huge increase in profitability but there’s no evidence that the quality of aged care is increasing,” he said.

But Mr Shonhan, from Bentleys ,said the reforms were working well. Consumers had more choice and more options to pay for aged care. Meanwhile, operators could provide better amenities and were becoming more efficient.

“They can do more with less,” he said. “This is absolutely efficiency.”

The Bentleys survey has been running for 20 years and compiles data from more than 150 profit and not-for-profit homes.